The iPod Shuffle Challenge Gemina style!
by Gemina
Summary: So basically, this contains a lot of stories with Neji in them, and a few other about the Hyuuga clan. A lot of them are tragic, which says a lot about the music on my mp3 player...*cringes* Rated for violence and such... Nejiten, Naruhina! :D


**Anyway, I figured, hey, why not? Sounds like fun! **

**The iPod shuffle challenge:**

**1. Pick a fandom, character, couple, whatever.**

**2. Open iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. and put it on shuffle.**

**3. Open a word document and start the music.**

**4. Write as the song plays. Once the song ends, stop writing. You stop when the song stops.**

**5. Do this ten times. :) And then post so everybody can read them!**

**Most of these are about the Hyuuga clan, Team Gai, and specifically, Neji. Anyway, there are a couple OCs in there that I made up on the spot...and one of the songshots is a GBed one, like my other story. *shrugs***

**Enjoy!! I own nothing!  
**

**Circles - Switchfoot  
**

Neji paced slowly as he waited for Hinata to come out of the operating room. She'd been wounded seriously in a mission, one he hadn't been available for because he was recovering from injury from training.

In other words, it was his fault, or at least he thought so. He'd been waiting for three hours now, and was beginning to think in circles. The last thing he'd said to her was "Don't die."

He hoped she heeded his words.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Tsunade came out. She hadn't even bothered to clean up yet, which could only mean one thing...

Neji's heart clenched painfully. Not Hinata! Not his younger cousin!

He was supposed to protect her...

...and he'd failed.

Tsunade cleared her throat to tell him the news.

He shook his head and left the room. He knew what she was going to say, but hearing it out loud would only make it true.

He needed to be alone right now.

-  
**Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest: Tia Dalma**

It was team Gai's first stealth mission without Gai, and all three moved as silently as shadows through the mist.

Their normally clothes had been traded off for the better camouflage of black. And they didn't carry their forehead protectors. If they were caught, they couldn't be linked back to Konoha.

Lee went first, carefully twisting through a trap Neji had easily picked up. Through a sort of sign language that was unique to their team, they communicated the next part of their plan, as they slowly infiltrated the base filled with snares.

Neji went through gracefully next. Years of gentle fist training had not been in vain; he was light-footed enough to get through almost any trap.

Tenten was last, carefully making her way through. Normally they'd just have her disable the trap, but today was not normal. The traps were chakra laced, and would immediately alert the trap setter.

This was their first stealth mission, and their last. None more was seen of Team Gai after that, though it was never confirmed if they'd died.

-  
**Just a dream - Jump5**

Neji and Tenten. Ask anyone, and they'd say that they were perfect for each other. Who else put up with Neji's attitude so well?

Neither of them ever agreed, at least publicly.

Unbeknownst to most, however, the two were already dating. Now the two were out in the forest, eating the picnic they'd packed.

Neji was relaxed for once, and a smile sometimes graced his features as he and Tenten chit-chatted. Tenten smiled.

"Hey, I was thinking...I'm turning eighteen soon. I had a great idea for my eighteenth birthday party."

Tenten began, beaming at Neji, as she settled down next to him.

"It's been what? Three years? What say we make it forever?"

Neji looked annoyed.

"You just ruined my proposal, Tenten." He chided, though calm and taciturn as ever.

Tenten gasped. It was a yes for certain.

---

**Hiding Place - Righteous B**

Hanabi was Neji's prodigy. He'd come home one day to find her training, and he saw the same raw potential he'd had a couple years younger than her.

She wasn't as naturally talented as he, but she had the determination to make him smirk slightly and think of Lee. Over the years, she made him proud, first graduating at the top of her class, then making Chuunin on her first try, then now, making jounin at fifteen.

She came walking to him proudly. Though she'd went first to her father, since he was her father, after all, her master came next.

"Jounin, Neji-sama. I've made jounin."

Neji nodded his approval. He was already ANBU, and had made the rank some time ago.

"Next is ANBU." Hanabi continued eagerly.

Neji shook his head.

"No. You're not the right material. You will do better to take on a team." He said.

Hanabi's mouth popped open in protest. She had never questioned her teacher before, but this was too much! How could he keep this honor from her?

"I will make ANBU." She replied, setting her mouth in a stubborn line. That was the quality of her father that shone through the most, her stubborness. She turned and walked away, not turning once.

Neji watched her go. He'd created a monster.

---

**Cinderella - Steven Curtis Chapman**

Neji and tenten had been happily married for seven years. They had one daughter; perfectly healthy except for one thing: She was deaf.

Not that it had stopped her, at six years old, she knew basic gentle fist style, and had learned to use her byakugan to help compensate for her lack of hearing.

Her name was Hana, she felt she was ready for the academy, and headed straight to her school, barely waiting for her father.

Her father had been proud of her, ready to burst as she made her way into the school. Each child had to stand and introduce themselves, and Neji stuck around to watch Hana get to know her classmates.

As she stood and began to speak, his heart sank. She couldn't hear the children giggling at the way she spoke...

The desire to step in there and beat in the heads of the children who dared to make fun of her flooded his being, but he had more self restraint than that. He clenched his fists and watched for a minute.

He watched as Hana looked down at the smiling faces, some trying to cover up their mouths. She was six, and she didn't understand that she sounded different. So it didn't occur to her that they might be laughing at her.

Her moon-like eyes blinked in confusion, before turning to look at the teacher, who was scolding the gigglers. Comprehension dawned on her face, and Neji felt his heart clench painfully.

Suddenly, instead of crying, or being angry, she smiled brightly. It was hard to tell at first exactly what she said, but apparently it only made the others laugh harder.

He pieced it together a couple seconds later.

"Laugh now, but I'm going to be hokage one day."

-  
**Beautiful scars - Steven Curtis Chapman**

Today was one of the most beautiful days in Hyuuga clan history; it was the day when there would be no more curse mark. Their Hokage and the clan leader had reached an agreement, as Naruto had always promised.

Though Naruto himself was not the one keeping the promise; the duty had been passed on to his son. It had taken many long years for this to come to pass.

Neji watched from one of the porches. He'd lost his leg many years ago in the battle against Sasuke. He hadn't retired until he could no longer make do with a wooden leg.

He'd never thought he'd live to see this day, and there were slight tears in his eyes, though he swiftly wiped them away as he watched the ceremony.

There was no way to remove the curse mark, but it would never, never marr the foreheads of his grandchildren.

He looked up towards the sky.

'Thank you for keeping your promise, Naruto.'

---

**Hello - Ark Sano**

The piano was a foreign instrument, yet it held a quiet fascination for Neji. He didn't know it at the time, but he had a gift for the instrument, playing out what he felt in his soul.

His songs were always mournful and sad, sometimes filled with a slight lift throughout it, depending on his mood. He hadn't played a cheerful tune since the death of his father.

Now, a chuunin, he sat easily playing through a new song. It had hints of hope to it, unlike many of his other songs. The higher it went, the more it was like his heart soared.

Hinata stood listening at the door, holding her breath. If her cousin caught her, she was afraid he'd kill her, despite the law against it in the clan. She listened, smiling slightly at the hopeful melody, before it took a more melancholy turn, anding in a sad tune once again.

It was very like Neji. He had a hard time letting go of his sadness, or his anger. But one day, maybe he'd play a happy song again.

---

**After the world - Disciple**

Neji stared into the water, her eyes squinted slightly, as if focusing on something. Tenten looked over at her for a second, before Neji disrupted the image with a splash, tying back on her forehead protector, not giving Tenten a chance to see her forehead.

Tenten had been her teammate for three years, and knew something was terribly wrong with her. Neji had been more sour than usual, unwilling to laugh. She wanted to ask what was wrong, but Neji was Neji, and would never tell her.

Which was why she was so surprised a couple minutes later to find her speaking to Lee in a tremulous voice of her father's death, and today being the anniversary. How she didn't have a grave to visit. How her mother had killed herself.

And Tenten was moved slightly. She wished she could head in there and hug her, and was suddenly glad Neji had went to Lee. Lee knew how to handle her better, and she had a better understanding of Neji's pain, being an orphan herself.

---

**Take my chances - Barlowgirl**

It had been generations since Naruto had made his promise to Neji, to reform the Hyuuga. And still, the promise had not been kept. His descendants, however, remembered the promise, looking accusingly towards any Uzumaki they happened to meet, who often had the same eyes as they.

The hate that came from Neji's branch, or the Higeki branch, as it had been named, was often overwhelming, so much so, that in the academy precautions were often made to make sure they were not in the same class. Or on the same teams. And so on.

There was one slip up, however, and today a small boy named Hideaki and a young girl named Hinata, after her great grandmother, were meeting. Technically, they were distant cousins.

But the girl's reaction to finding someone with her own eyes was so bright and happy, the teachers were astounded. She named the smaller boy as her little brother, and glared at anyone who dared pick on him.

And so a beautiful friendship blossomed. Both had their own byakugan styles, his powerful precise Higeki branch byakugan and her less distinct but very ranged byakugan. As they grew older, and he grew taller than her, the roles reversed. He was pretty soon the one protecting her, from his family. Especially when they made the same team.

There were complaints on both sides, as her parents worried for her safety, and the boy's for his sanity.

But they both stuck up for each other, and they remained on the same team. When someone made a slanderous remark against Hinata, for her jinchuriki blood, Hideaki beat the snot out of them. And when one of his curse marks were activated, she held his hand and told him it was going to be all right.

And it was, for years after that.

And when he died from complications of his curse marks, she became an avenger, slaughtering the entire main family.

And fulfilling the promise to change the Hyuuga clan.

---

**Blindness Beats Honesty - Five Talents More**

Neji sat by himself, memories swimming around in his head. Today was his day of solitude; today was the day his father had died. He rubbed at the curse mark on his forehead; it was still slightly sore form the week before, though only the slightest bit. His father had endured worse.

Today, he was remembering the good memories; like going out for ice cream, and then being up all night from the sugar high he'd gotten from it. There was a reason he never ate sweets.

And the time he'd shown his father his skill with the byakugan, the way his father's eyes had glowed with pride. He'd still be proud of him today, Neji knew that.

Putting together sand castles the one time he took him to the beach. He'd used a conch shell to decorate the top.

Forcing him to dress up for Hinata's second birthday. It was important that he be present. He hadn't known it at the time, but it was when her future protector was going to be chosen, and his father had been ordered to take him there. He'd still made a game of getting dressed, since three year old Neji had hated wearing formal clothes.

Today was a day for remembering, for fear of forgetting. He had precious few memories of his father from early on, and it was important that he remember the stories every year, lest he become like other orphan children he'd met, who often substituted bedtime stories for their childhood memories...


End file.
